Administered by the US Veterans Administration, VA loans are available to Servicemembers, Veterans, and eligible surviving spouses to help them realize the American dream of owning their own home. While the VA guarantees a portion of the loan, the loans themselves are provided by private lenders.

There are benefits to the borrower when taking a VA mortgage, among them lower (or none at all) down payments, no mortgage insurance, and lower credit score requirements on the borrower. In recent years I have had various listing agents cringe when an offer is presented with VA financing in place, but I find this shortsighted. I find the agent doesn’t really know how to explain the financing to the seller and sometimes gives short shrift to the VA offer. That is a disservice to the Veteran or qualified borrower in my opinion, and also to the seller.

For any who know a vet or active duty, here are a few articles explaining the ins and outs of VA mortgages. And let them know that we love working with veterans. Sometimes when an agent hears “no down payment” they don’t want to work with that buyer. That is not our philosophy; we look to repay the service that the vet provided us

Why do I need to speak to a mortgage banker and get preapproved first?

Because for one, we don’t want to take you out shopping for homes you can’t afford. We don’t want your significant other to get all geeked up about a home only to find out two days later it’s not in your realm of possibility. That scenario sets us all up for failure. And two, with all due respect, we don’t want to waste time, yours or ours. We hear all the time that “I can get pre-approved quickly, as soon as I find a home”. Well maybe, but many times we have spent hours viewing homes only to find the buyer doesn’t have the credit or income to qualify for a mortgage. So with the utmost respect, we only take out folks that we know are qualified to buy.

Why do I need to pick a school district or neighborhood before we search, can’t we look at them while we are viewing homes?

Again, we don’t want to waste your time any more than ours. There are online resources out there like www.greatschools.org that can help you decide what school district you desire. And before we go out we always recommend you take a drive through your potential neighborhoods at different times of the day to see how it feels to you. We always recommend you visit the spots you may live at rush hour, even going so far as to take the train or drive the commute once or twice to see if you can bear it.

For me personally, I don’t mind looking in two or three separate neighborhoods, even 20 or 30 miles apart if that’s what you are deciding between. But let’s narrow it down to just those two or three. Because if you have a whole county in your search area, or five, six, seven towns, you will be getting dozens of homes that might fit your criteria in your search results. It will be information overload and it will be tough to narrow that down.

Why do I need to leave my parents, grandparents, uncle who’s a contractor, brother who’s a plumber, and sister who’s a kitchen designer home when I amviewing homes?

We only want the decision makers with us when we are initially viewing a home. We promise you, the folks you love that only want the best for you will pick apart every home you see until your head is spinning. And since they don’t know us, your Realtor, they often think we are trying to sell you on a home to generate a commission. We aren’t; our goal is to find what you need, within your budget. Yes, these people that you trust should view the home if you feel you want another opinion. But let’s do that on the second viewing when you are serious about putting an offer on the home.

Why don’t you know everything about this home that we are seeing?

Well, because I don’t yet. I don’t know if you will walk in and walk out hating it. We may be seeing five or six homes today. And honestly, I haven’t asked the listing agent yet why the electrical panel is in the bedroom closet and not in the basement. I don’t know yet if there is a gas line in the street, and I may not know if that’s a settling crack or something more serious in the structure. Our process is to bring you to a home to see if the features and benefits of the home fit within your wants and your budget. We will then delve deeper into the home to find out all the information you need. But we don’t find this stuff out before we see the home. And honestly, we probably don’t need to know unless you are making an offer on the house. Please don’t look at us like we haven’t done our job when you ask us a question and we say “I don’t know but I will be sure to find out if you need to know”.

We want your home search to be fun for you. If your children have an hour of home searching in them then let’s schedule only two or three homes today. If your time is limited and you need to look at a lot of homes all at once, we can work that out but let us know in advance. Please don’t call us Friday and say I would like to see these nine homes tomorrow between one and four. We usually need 24 hours notice to schedule home viewings. And we need a day or two to set things up. If you want to see homes Saturday, please let us know by Wednesday what homes are on your list.

I for one love taking first time homebuyers out to help educate them on the process; what to look for and what to avoid. Find a Realtor that you trust, that gets you and your significant other, and let them into your life. Let them know what you need and don’t want. We suggest you actually go into the office and speak with your Realtor before choosing him or her; find out what their process is. You will be happy you did, and they will save you tons of time.

Sellers, there is no good reason why you should be interacting with your buyers as they walk through your home. None.

We have heard you say I’ll be quiet, I won’t listen to them and stay out of the way.We have heard you say I’ll stay in the basement, the den, the backyard. And sometimes our sellers do that, and everything is fine. But there are times when a seller just has to be involved.

Sometimes a seller thinks they can sell a home; they can point out features that the buyers’ agent may miss. Fail. Sometimes a seller thinks they can explain away a water stain or a warped molding better than a listing agent. Fail. Or maybe a buyer might utter something insensitive about a seller’s taste in décor or worse. A seller may need to respond to that.

Our experience has shown us that while a seller absolutely cannot help a showing, they most certainly can hurt. Why would you take a chance? Do yourself a favor and vacate the home while it’s being shown. If you have viewings set up where you provide the access to the buyer and agent, take a walk outside or around the block. If your agent is accompanying the key and showing for you, leave and get a latte.

We like to look at it this way. You did a lot of homework to get to where you are. You hired an agent to sell your home. Let the agent do the job you hired them for. You may not think you are hurting, but you are absolutely making the buyer less comfortable by being there. The buyer will be on guard while touring your home. That is not what you want. You do want them to be as free to talk and like or dislike any features your home has.

This is a business transaction. Let the brokers handle the transaction.

We get it. Showings are inconvenient for you, the kids, the dogs. Maybe you can’t keep your home in “showing immaculate condition” at all time and you need to rush home from work to run the vacuum cleaner and do some dusting. Or you and the boss are finally getting date night in, the kids are out and you want to have a little relaxed Saturday afternoon before going out to dinner. Maybe the admin from your listing agent’s office pissed you off when she called to ask for the viewing and you decided not to accommodate the potential buyers.

But here’s the thing. EVERY showing is your potential best buyer. Every person that comes through the door is capable of giving you the most amount of money in the shortest period of time with the least amount of hassle for your house. Consider showing appointments as leads. If you are getting a lot of leads (calls for appointments), maybe you can cancel or turn one down. But if your home has been listed for a month or more, and has had an open house already and you aren’t in contract yet you would do well to consider making it as easy as possible to view the home.

We’ve covered the fact previously that the period when a new listing has the most activity is from 2-4 weeks after the listing goes live. That’s when most buyers will be excited about a new listing. They will not get re-excited if they can’t get in to see your home, even after a price break. After a few weeks of seeing your home in their daily feed, they click on by, and are excited by the newer homes on the market. So let’s capitalize on their natural enthusiasm for your listing early on.

When we work as buyer’s agents and we call for a viewing, if we are turned down for whatever reason, our buyers may want us to call back again. Or they may not. If we try to see it a second time and are turned down, or the hours available are too restrictive, oftentimes the buyers cannot or will not try to reschedule.

We look at it this way. You have done all the heavy lifting up until this point. You decluttered, painted, repaired, hired the best agent, priced well, and are prepared emotionally for the move. At this point, bring the ball over the goal line and finish. Treat every potential showing appointment as “the one” that could get your goals met.